Method of distributing building materials.



E. V JOHNSON.

METHOD or DISTRIBUTING BUILDING MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 2, 1912.

Patented Sept. 22

THE NORRIS FErERs ca. PHOIU-H'IHU. WASHINCYON. o c.

ERNEST V. JOHNSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF DISTRIBUTING BUILDING MATERIALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 22, 1914.,

Application filed December 2, 1912. Serial No. 734,431.

Thrall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EnNEs'r V. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States,residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of DistributingBuilding Materials, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved method of distributing buildingmaterials of fireproof buildings during the process of erection.

An object of the invention is to devise a method of distributingbuilding materials, such as tile, mortar, cement or grouting over theentire area of each floor of steel skeleton or frame buildings orreinforced concrete buildings as the construction progresses, which willminimize, as far as possible, the cost of the labor therefor, the timerequired for handling the materials, and which will facilitate the workof all the laborers.

The invention furthermore consists in the improvement in the steps andthe novel. combinations of the steps hereinafter described or claimed.

As is well known, fireproof buildings are now generally constructed byerecting the skeleton framework of steel or rein forced concretecolumns, girders and beams, floor by floor, and as fast as one floor ofthe skeleton is finished, the false work or centering is put in placefor said floor, and then the fireproofing tile are distributed androughly stacked in place over the entire floor area on the centering,after which the tilelayers come along and apply the cement or groutingto the tile and place the latter in permanent position.

So far as I am aware, it has hitherto been the universal practice indistributing tile and other building material over each floor, to employthe following method and apparatus: A pair of small freight elevatorsare arranged at each advantageous point of distribution in the building,in the case of small buildings, one pair being generally used, and inlarger buildings, two pairs, one pair at each end. Each pair ofelevators is so arranged that as one goes up, the other comes down, thetravel of the elevators being changed from time to time as floor afterfloor of the building is constructed, so that the upgoing elevator willalways stop at the level of the last completed floor and on which thedistribution of the tile or other building materials is taking place,and the downcoming elevator will always stop at the ground level, wherethe tile are received from wagons. Each of these elevators, as hithertoconstructed, is only large enough to carry a single wheelbarrow at atime, and when the elevators are brought to rest at their extreme upperand lower positions, laborers replace an empty wheelbarrow on theelevator at the bottom with one filled with tile, and a filledwheelbarrow on the elevator at the top with an empty one, this operationbeing repeated as the elevators are alternately raised and lowered. Thewheelbarrows which have been used in this work are necessarily limitedin capacity, on account of the fact that the laborers in moving the samehave to support a major part of the load, and such capacity, in the caseof large size fireproofing tile, is limited to four pieces, so that,although the elevators are operated at high speed, yet the aggregatetime consumed in delivering all the tile required on any one floor, fourat a time, is relatively great. It has always been customary to have thewheelbarrows delivered by the elevators at a level flush with thetemporary wheelbarrow plank platform, which, so far as I am aware, hasalways been loosely laid directly on top of the girders and beams. Theseplanks must be shifted from time to time as the laborers distribute thetile over the different parts of the floor, since the tile are ofnecessity always dropped from the hand onto the centering or false workadjacent the wheelbarrow platform and as soon as one space is filled,the distributer delivers the tile to the next space. After the tile havethus been delivered, the stackers arrange the same roughly in rows readyfor the tile-layers to apply the cement or grouting. In this connection,it will be observed that neither the stackers nor the tile-layers cancomplete their part of the work in any space so long as the wheelbarrowplatform is in position thereover, because the latter, resting directlyon top of the beams, prevents the tile from being properly handledtherebeneath, as the height of fireprooling tile generally approximatesthat of the beams and girders themselves, so that in the space betweenthe false work or centering and the plank platform suificient clearanceis never provided for putting the tile in position, nor for permittingthe stackers or layers themselves to work thereunder. The foregoingoutlines, briefly, the method and apparatus hitherto used in theerection of fireproof buildings, as observed by me during the many yearsin which I have been actively engaged in constructing fireproofbuildings, and it will be apparent that with the practice aboveoutlined, the speed with which the materials are distributed is limited,much time is wasted in continually having to shift the wheelbarrow plankplatforms and the stackers and tile-layers are hampered and delayed intheir work, so that all of these factors combine to increase the costofconstruction.

In order to do away with all the above indicated objections of the oldpractice employed in distributing building materials, I employ thefollowing means: Instead of using wheelbarrows adapted to carry onlyfour tile at a time, I employ wheel trucks that can carry upward ofthirty tile at a time, which a laborer can easily pull around on theplatform provided therefor without undue exertions or strains on hispart, and without the necessity of supporting any of the weight of theload. Elevators operating in pairs, as hitherto, are also provided, butthe same are made large enough to carry the wheel trucks abovedescribed, and the same method of loading and unloading the elevators isemployed. In this connection, it will be seen that over seven times thenumber of tile are handled by the same number of laborers in the sametime as heretofore, or, stated in another manner, only oneseventh asmany laborers need be employed to distribute the same number of tile asheretofore required. I also provide a platform for the trucks which,after being once placed in the most advantageous position for a floor,is never moved or changed until all the tile have been distributed overthat floor and operations transferred to the next higher floor. Thisplatform, which is made wide enough for two trucks to pass each other,is rigidly secured in position on the beams and girders and is elevatedto a plane approximately four feet above the centering or false work,and the'upgoing elevators are stopped flush with the level of thisplatform, so that the trucks may be run directly thereonto from theelevators. The four foot space thus provided between the platform andthe false work permits both the stacker-s and the tile layers to workall over the floor space, including that beneath the platform, withoutany interference in their work, even while the platform is in place, sothat the stacking and laying will progress as fast as the distributingcan be accomplished, thus preventing the necessity for separating thegangs of laborers and having one gang on one floor and another gang onanother floor.

Another important result obtained by elevating the platform, asdescribed in the foregoing, resides in the fact that it allows thelaborers to distribute the tile from the platform to any place desiredon the floor on either side of the track by means of a shiftable gravityconveyer having its top end detachably secured to the track and itslower end restingon the false work. By using such gravity conveyers, thelaborer, after having pulled the truck along the platform to the desiredplace, merely places the tile on the gravity conveyer and as the tileslide automatically down the conveyer under the influence of gravity,the stackers stand alongside, pick off the tile oneby one and arrangethem in proper position. This method, as will be obvious, avoids thenecessity of having to shift the platform during the operations on onefloor, since the gravity conveyers are long enough to extend from theplatform to parts'of the floor farthest therefrom, and the same can beeasily shifted or moved along the platform from time to time withoutmoving or disturbing the platform, so that the laborers who haul thetrucks are never interrupted in their work. 1

By employing my method above described, I estimate that a saving offully' twenty-five per cent. in the cost of labor will be effected.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, are illustratedsuitable means for carrying out my method, and in said drawing, F igure1 is a diagrammatic plan view of one floor of a building, showing therelative positions of the elevators and platform. Fig. 2 is an enlarged,sectional view showing the elevated position of the platform and themanner of supporting the same on the beams, and showing also a wheeltruck suitable for carrying thirty or more tile, and Fig. 3 is anothersectional view, taken substantially at right angles to the view shown inFig. 2, and illustrating more particularly the step of distributing thetile from the platform by means of the gravity conveyer.

In the'drawing, the floor planof a building is shown by the: outline 10,and the building, of which the floor plan is illustrative, is providedwith an inner court 11. Temporary elevator shafts 12 are provided ateach end of the building, in each of which are operated a set ofelevators 13, the same simultaneously, alternately raised and lowered.Adjacent the elevator shaft is placed a platform 141, wide enough fortwo trucks to pass each other, which, as shown, extends entirely aroundthe building, and is preferably located equi-distant from the inner andouter walls of the building at all points. vThe elevators 13 are madelarge enough to accommodate; a wheeled truck,

such as illustrated at 15, which is adapted to carry thirty or more tile16, and, as will be understood, the loaded trucks are placed on theelevators when the same are in their lowermost position on the groundfloor. The upgoing elevator is stopped flush with the raised or elevatedplatform 14, so that the truck may be easily moved from the elevator tothe platform, which, as

shown, is supported approximately four feet above the false work orcentering 17 on the I-beams 18 by supporting members 19, the latterhaving means 20 for rigidly connecting the same to the I-beams. Afterthe trucks have been wheeled to a. point on the platform nearest thearea to which the tile are to be supplied, the laborer then places thetile one by one on a gravity conveyor 21, which may be of any well knownconstruction, and which is detachably secured to the platform 14 so thatit may be shifted from time to time as desired. The stackers standingupon the false work 17 can easily pick off the tile one by one from thegravity conveyer and arrange them roughly in position in the spacesbetween the beams, after which the tile-layers follow up the stackersand apply the cement or grouting. In Fig.

2, 1s shown roughly in outline alaborer working beneath the platform,showing how it is possible for the operations of stacking and laying tobe completed without inconvenience to the laborers while the platform isstill in position.

The foregoing describes the operations that take place on one floor,but, as will be obvious, as soon as one floor is completed, the platformis dismounted and placed in position on the next highest floor, and theoperations repeated until the entire building is completed.

At 22 is shown a wheel truck provided with suitable means for carrying alarge quantity of mortar, cement or grouting which may be distributed inlarge quantities to any point desired on a floor by pulling the trucksaround. In this way the mortar, cement or grouting may be handled inmuch larger quantities than has hitherto been customary with the oldwheelbarrow method, and not only is this class of material handled inlarger quantities, but waste from spilling is also prevented. With theold hand wheelbarrow, it has been customary to deliver, approximatelyone cubic foot of mortar or cement at a time, whereas by delivering thesame with a wheel truck, approximately ten times that amount may bedelivered in the same time, and by the same number of laborers.

Although I have herein described what I now consider the preferredmanner of carrying out my process, yet it will be understood thatchanges and variations may be employed without departing from the spiritof the invention, and all such changes and variations are contemplatedas come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim 1. The method of distributing building materials during theconstruction of a building, which consists in providing a platform uponthe frame of the building at a sufficient height above the horizontalfloor beams to permit laborers to work beneath said platform, elevatinga quantity of said materials in a transportable carrying vehicle to saidplatform, moving said vehicle over said platform to adjacent appropriatepoints of distribution and delivering said materials to said points witha shiftable gravity conveyer, substantially as specified.

2. The method of distributing building materials during the constructionof a building, which consists in providing a platform upon the frame ofthe building at a sufficient height above the floor beams to permitlaborers to work under said platform, elevating a quantity of saidmaterials in a transportable carrying vehicle, moving said vehicle oversaid platform to adjacent appropriate points of distribution anddistributing said materials said points by gravity, substantially asspecified.

3. The method of distributing building material during the constructionof a building, which consists in providing a platform upon the frame ofthe building at sulficient height above the floor beams to permitlaborers to work under said platform and adjacent a delivery elevatorshaft, loading said materials in a suitable transportable carryingvehicle, moving said vehicle on to said elevator and from said elevatorto said platform, moving said vehicle along said platform to appropriatepoints of distribu tion, and distributing said materials to said pointsby gravity, substantially as specified.

4. The method of distributing building materials during the constructionof a building, which consists in providing a platform extendingsubstantially around the walls of the building and at a suflicientheight above the floor beams to permit laborers to work under saidplatform, elevating a quantity of said materials in a transportablecarrying vehicle, moving said vehicle about said platform, anddistributing said material by gravity to appropriate location, substan-.

tially as specified.

E. V. JOHNSON. Witnesses:

JOSEPH HARRISS, H. M. MUNDAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cent each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

